Neck brushes have been used to clean cut hair from a salon patron's neck for centuries. These simple brushes are sometimes dipped into skin powder which soothes the patron's neck. More recently, brushes were developed to hold the powder and dispense the powder.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,966,176 to Bradley discloses improvements in a brush holder and powder applicator for a barber's duster brush. Powder container D is squeezed and powder is delivered to brush bristles. A “germicidal lamp H” sanitizes the powder. U.S. Pat. No. 1,757,650 to Arico discloses a brush with a powder containing chamber at one end. The brush has an independent brush head to be used upon each customer when it is desired to remove the cut hairs from the face, head or neck, under such conditions providing for sanitation. U.S. Pat. No. 2,657,410 to Stroup discloses a neck duster especially useful in barber and beautician shops. The neck duster has a disposable container for antiseptic powder and the container has a perforated top to permit passage of the powder to the bristles of a brush head. The container and the brush head are detachably secured together by means of a handle. U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2006/0175554 to Riddell discloses a germicidal brush cleaner that uses a germicidal UV light (para. 024) to disinfect the individual bristles on a plurality of toothbrushes and a hairbrush. Each toothbrush and hairbrush includes bristles made of optical fibers capable of transmitting ultraviolet light. There is also a special method of attachment of the toothbrush inside the cleaner that secures the toothbrushes in a set position in the holder. The germicidal light source may be a germicidal fluorescent ultraviolet lamp. The light rays from the germicidal light source are directed at the opposite ends of the bristle at the critical angle, or slightly greater than the critical angle, in order to attain total internal reflection of the light down the bristles of the toothbrushes.
The other references showing neck brushes are: U.S. Pat. No. 2,592,020 to Farone discloses disposable sanitary-type neck dusters. U.S. Pat. No. 1,714,508 to Keele discloses a sanitary brush. U.S. Pat. No. 2,825,080 to Bongiovanni discloses a combination neck brush and powder dispenser for use by a barber. U.S. Pat. No. 2,129,777 to McGrath discloses a system, used in connection with barbers' duster brushes, wherein the bristles of the brush may be sterilized each time the brush is used. U.S. Pat. No. 2,582,992 to Hergert discloses a brush or duster for use in barber shops.
However, current health code regulations require that most, if not all, barbershop and salon utensils, which touch a patron's hair or neck, be sterilized before and between each use. The utensil should be sterile for each use. Therefore, many of the prior art neck brushes, with and without powder dispensers, do not have a sanitization system. Further, many health code regulations require that the government inspector visually see, during a quick inspection of the salon, that the sanitization process is being properly applied to all beauty salon and barbershop utensils.